From Gen Y’s Perspective: What’s Wrong with Moonlighting?

The rapidly shrinking population of Gen –X people at work place may think that Gen-Y is pampered, spoiled and completely careless. You tell them to close the door and they might break the hinges. For Gen-Y it is a free world. You may also think that they are a bunch of whole generation hanging out with gizmos and gadgets that doesn’t value tradition. Well that’s absolutely true. But another fact is that they are by far the toughest generation.

When it comes to jobs, Gen Y has no qualms treating it like an open relationship. What’s wrong with it? Your job is being done. They are earning a little extra. Isn’t it perfect? CareerBuilder India opines on moonlighting keeping in mind the generation who walks the talk and sees no qualm with “career flings.” It lists the basics of smart moonlighting.

1. Don’t Use Any Office Resources: You are not even allowed to use the office’s stock of papers for writing a rough draft about the evening meeting with your personal client. If you have to write down something important about your part-time hiring business, jot it down it on your phone or in your personal diary. Now if papers are such a big problem then using office computers are complete blunders. Firstly, it’s unethical and secondly it’s risky.2. Don’t Discuss Business at Workplace: Moonlighting is a completely hush-hush business. Don’t talk about it with anyone who works with you or in your office. And this means even those who you consider “friends” at work place. In case you are teaming up for moonlighting to form your own Mobile App designer hub make sure you do not talk about ventures at work place or during work hours.3. Should You Let the Boss Know? In case you have been already working on your personal ventures then yes. In case you have started after your association with the current employer, then no. While you might consider it wise to let them know that you are looking for an additional source of income, your Technology employer might mistake it as your strategy to divorce them.4. Schedule Your Time Well: One thing that moonlighting will definitely teach you is how to schedule your time. Your first priority when you start multi-tasking is to divide and define your availability. By doing this you are ensuring that you don’t misuse your time and don’t waste that of employers and clients.5. Handle it With Care: This simply means that you need to handle it well. While some employers disapprove of it complete, some are flexible in their approach towards it. Maybe the latter type has done it too. While that’s none of your business, make sure that you have a good enough relation with your company that they trust you with moonlighting. Do not consider your full-time finance job as secondary if you really have to moonlight.

While making ends meet is really not the reason why moonlight is so famous amongst Gen-Yer’s (they are well-educated for bagging jobs that pay a 6 figure salary) it feels poor when you wish to travel and are stuck in a nine-to-five programming job. If you have the skill to write or a knack for tourism, moonlighting brightens your career path. While moonlighting is an offence big enough to get you fired, who says you can’t be smart enough to multi-task?